Chapter 60: Giving Sun Chengze a Lesson

"Your Majesty, just as I was entering the city, I saw some children selling... selling the *Great Ming Daily*."

"The *Great Ming Daily*?"

Chongzhen asked, somewhat pleasantly surprised. "Is there a copy? Bring it here for me to see."

Sun Chengzong pulled the *Great Ming Daily* he had bought on the street out from his sleeve, and Wang Chengen immediately took it and presented it to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen took it, scanned through it, frowned, and muttered to himself, "How crude."

This *Great Ming Daily* was indeed a rudimentary prototype of later newspapers. At the very top were four large characters: *The Great Ming Daily*.

Below that was his article, "I Have a Dream," followed by two poems, and apart from that, there was no other content.

It fell far short of what he had envisioned.

Standing at a distance and unable to hear the emperor's self-muttering, Sun Chengzong asked in puzzlement, "Your Majesty, I did not catch Your Majesty's command."

"It's nothing!"

Chongzhen waved a hand. "Teacher Sun, this newspaper was made at my direction. Do you feel there is something amiss with it?"

"It truly is Your Majesty's doing!"

Sun Chengzong pondered for a moment inwardly, then said, "Your Majesty's article can serve admirably to boost morale. Today, the commoners in the city who saw Your Majesty's piece had their morale greatly heightened. If this spreads throughout the Great Ming, it will be of immense benefit to our realm. However, I worry that if this article reaches the Jianzhou Jurchens, the Tartars, or Tibet, it will provoke them, and they may raise troops to march against us... Your Majesty possesses the bearing of Yao and Shun; you should first conceal your ambitions and put the internal affairs in order. When national strength is ample, you could then mobilize a million troops and crush the Jianzhou Jurchens with the speed of thunderous lightning. But doing this now—"

"Is Teacher Sun trying to say that I am being overly ostentatious?"

Sun Chengzong offered an awkward smile.

Chongzhen gave a light chuckle. "Given the current state of the Great Ming, the Jianzhou Jurchens are well aware of it. When I speak such words at this moment, does Teacher Sun think the Jurchens will believe I have backbone, or will they think me arrogant and reckless?"

This time it was Sun Chengzong's turn to be stunned. His brows furrowed tightly as his thoughts raced.

If they thought he had backbone, it would put pressure on the Jurchens. The Jurchens certainly would not wish to see this new emperor rectify the court and then destroy them; they would accelerate their pace of attack, giving the Great Ming no breathing room.

If they thought him reckless, it would cause the Jurchens to look down upon him. They would not miss this opportunity and might likewise accelerate their pace of attack.

Regardless of which it was, it would cause the Jurchens to quicken their assault. What exactly was the emperor playing at?

Looking at Sun Chengzong's expression, a trace of a smile lingered at the corner of Chongzhen's mouth.

Whether external enemies like the Jurchens thought him reckless or possessed of backbone, it achieved his desired outcome.

He had three considerations in doing this: first, to arouse the morale of the domestic populace; second, to seize control of the narrative; and third, and most importantly, he was laying out a grand strategic trap to trip up Hong Taiji.

If all subsequent plans remained within his control, he could trap Hong Taiji to death, and perhaps even cause the Latter Jin to perish in the process.

He remembered that in the second year of Chongzhen, Mao Wenlong of the Eastern River Pijiang Island was executed by Yuan Chonghuan, leaving the Latter Jin with no worries in their rear. Hong Taiji then led his army around through Mongolia, directly hammered at the Great An Pass, broke through the Great Ming garrison at Jizhou, captured the strategic town of Zunhua, and pressed straight upon the capital of the Great Ming.

Looking at the whole affair, Mao Wenlong's death was only one aspect; the other was the inability to breach the Jin-Ning defense line.

Since he already knew about this, he could turn things to his advantage by faking Mao Wenlong's death and dispatching troops to lay an ambush around Zunhua.

Coupled with the temptation of several million shi of grain for disaster relief in Shaanxi, along with the stimulation of his article, he could induce Hong Taiji to advance his timetable for attack.

Of course, other groundwork had to be laid in the interim, such as setting up a firearms research institute around Jizhou or opening up an iron mine—things that the Jianzhou Jurchens severely lacked.

With the enticement of various conditions, plus the advantage of the prepared taking the unprepared, the chances of trapping Hong Taiji were exceptionally high.

The most crucial factor was that in this era, information transmission was terribly poor and suffered from severe latency. Otherwise, if it were like later times where everything took just a phone call, no matter how much he did, it would be to no avail.

This matter was of the utmost importance, and apart from himself, he could tell no one.

Chongzhen interrupted Sun Chengzong's contemplation: "From the current perspective, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages."

"Regardless of what they think, I ask you: can the Jianzhou Jurchens breach the Jin-Ning defense line?"

"They cannot!"

Sun Chengzong's reply was resolute. After answering, he froze, and then smiled.

Since they could not breach the Jin-Ning defense line, what did it matter if they knew?

As for Siam, Burma, and Tibet, they had a mountain of internal troubles of their own; how could they possibly spare the energy to mind what the Great Ming was doing?

Sun Chengzong gave a faint smile and continued, "However... Your Majesty, the Great Ming already has the court gazette (*Di bao*), which possesses far greater authority than this *Great Ming Daily* of yours. Why go to the trouble of creating a *Great Ming Daily*? Furthermore, your newspaper is far too simplistic. Since it is a daily, it must come out every day—you surely cannot write an article every single day."

"To make money, of course!"

"To make money?"

Sun Chengzong was dumbfounded. "Although it contains the court's decrees, commoners aren't going to buy this to read every single day."

"Teacher Sun, this *Great Ming Daily* is merely a prototype; it is still a far cry from what I demand."

Having said that, Chongzhen produced a fresh sheet of Xuan paper and began writing and sketching upon it. He was going to give Sun Chengzong a lesson.

A quarter of an hour later, Chongzhen put down his brush, glanced over it, nodded, and handed it to Sun Chengzong.

"Teacher Sun, take a look at this."

Sun Chengzong accepted it and began to read intently. He saw that the Xuan paper was divided into numerous sections:

Court decrees, famous literary manuscripts, stories, livelihood issues, gossip and amusing anecdotes, and advertisements—six sections in total.

*(Author's Note: Printing technology in the Ming Dynasty was highly developed, with both woodblock and movable-type printing in widespread use. Movable type included not only wooden type but also metal types made of copper and tin. Most impressively, they were even capable of producing illustrations and multi-colored prints. Therefore, as long as something could be designed, it could more or less be printed.)*

As he looked at the section titles and annotations, Sun Chengzong's eyes shifted from initial bewilderment to excitement, and finally turned solemn.

"Court decrees are meant to attract the attention of the commoners, poetry manuscripts to attract scholars, advertisements to attract merchants, livelihood matters to attract artisans and laborers, while stories and gossip are there to increase entertainment value."

"Once operations mature, we can charge fees for literary poetry manuscripts, and we can also charge for advertisements."

"At three cash per copy, our Great Ming has two hundred million people. If we sell a million copies a day, that's six thousand taels a day—eighteen thousand taels a month, nearly two million taels a year. Add in the fees for poetry manuscripts and advertisements, and we are looking at three million a year, if not more."

"Hiss..."

Sun Chengzong's eyes were filled with shock. One must know that the annual silver revenue of the Great Ming imperial treasury was only around three to four million taels.

*(Author's Note: The literacy rate in the Ming Dynasty ranked first among all successive dynasties; everyone is welcome to check the historical data.)*

"A single *Great Ming Daily* captures the attention of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants alike. It can disseminate news and make money at the same time—this idea is simply ingenious. Your Majesty truly possesses peerless talent."

Hearing Sun Chengzong's murmured praise, Chongzhen also nodded inwardly.

He truly was the most renowned Senior Grand Secretary of the late Ming; just by looking at a single case study, he could deduce so much.

Although he hadn't yet grasped the true essence of the *Great Ming Daily*, he would likely figure it out before long.

His purpose in creating the *Great Ming Daily* was to guide public opinion, transmit information, and make money.

Though it might seem lacking for now, once he trained the new army and stabilized the domestic front, he would introduce cement and bicycles—both of which were very simple to produce.

Once cemented roads were built from Beijing to the capitals of all the provinces, traveling by bicycle—or coordinating with postal relay stations—would make covering a thousand *li* a day entirely possible, let alone six hundred.

"Very well, you may go and attend to your duties! What has been said about the *Great Ming Daily* passes from my mouth into your ears, and must not be leaked outside."

"Oh, and you've just arrived in the capital and don't have a residence yet, right? Go find Li Banghua and pick a mansion from among those confiscated from the disgraced ministers to live in for now."

Sun Chengzong's mouth twitched slightly, and he then backed out of the Eastern Warm Pavilion.

Stepping out of the Eastern Warm Pavilion, Sun Chengzong felt as though he had lived through another lifetime. Wei Zhongxian was dead, his remaining accomplices were being purged, and the court could be considered clean. Presumably, the Donglin Party would no longer dare to make trouble.

With himself, Li Guopu, Li Biao, Han Huang, and Yuan Keli in the Grand Secretariat, coupled with the emperor's support, he could now act with untied hands and accomplish things. The Great Ming was saved.

After Sun Chengzong left, Chongzhen looked once more at the completed template for the *Great Ming Daily* and felt quite satisfied.

"Big Companion, take this and give it to Li Ruolian. Tell him to have people study it and produce a few trial editions for me to look over."

If he had made it this explicit and Li Ruolian still failed to get it right, the man would truly be too foolish.

Once Cao Huachun returned from Nanjing to take charge of the Eastern Depot, the *Great Ming Daily* would be placed under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Depot. The sharp weapon of public opinion had to be kept firmly in his own hands.

With the personnel of the Directorate of Ceremonies filled and Sun Chengzong returned, Chongzhen's pressure instantly lessened a great deal.

Just as he had finished his evening meal and was preparing to head to the Kunning Palace to chat about life with Empress Zhou, Wang Chengen hurried in.

"Your Majesty, Gao Shiming, the Director of the Directorate of Ceremonies, begs an audience, stating that he has vital intelligence concerning the stability of the court and the lives of hundreds of ministers. He implores Your Majesty's decree!"